MOGADISHU, Somalia -- A United Nations group and its partners have started providing meals to tens of thousands of people in Mogadishu, Somalia.

The U.N. World Food Program said in a news release Monday that beginning Nov. 25 it began providing meals to up to 50,000 people a day. It is the first time it has done so in the Somalian capital since 1993, the organization said.

"The depth and scale of the crisis in Somalia is extremely alarming to us all -- in some parts acute malnutrition levels surpass emergency threshold levels," said Peter Goossens, the program's director in Somalia.

Goossens said insecurity in Mogadishu has disrupted markets, leading to hyperinflation. He also said acute malnutrition rates among children under the age of five are estimated to be reaching 15 per cent or more.